Sports Briefs

CHATHAM - The Chatham High School Cougars
ice hockey team played its third-round State Tournament game on
Saturday, March 2, against second-seeded Randolph High School. The
game promised to be an up-and-down affair between two good skating
teams, and the boys did not disappoint anyone.

Randolph came out to score early in the
first period, but Chatham came back to tie the score early in the
second on a breakaway goal by Chris Keating, assisted by Josh
Cicurillo.

Chatham carried the action in the second
period, firing 15 shots at Randolph goalie Brett Reilly.
Nevertheless the score remained tied at 1-1 after two
periods.

The action was fast and furious in the third
period, with five minutes elapsing at one point without a whistle
stoppage.

Chatham executed an effective defensive
scheme, led by Nick Barboza, Gordon Lorenson and Circurillo that
shut down the high-scoring Randolph forwards.

The game remained tied until late in the
period, when Randolph scored on a well-executed backdoor play with
less than two minutes left on the clock. Chatham pulled its goalie
and continued to apply pressure, but the Randolph goaltender was at
the top of his game, holding the 2-1 win for his team.

Chatham's David Romano continued his
excellent play in the States and made numerous close-range saves,
ending up with a total of 19. Chatham's forward lines out-shot
Randolph, 27-21, but it was not enough to beat a very strong
Randolph squad.

Chatham advanced to the third round with a
6-5 victory over Ridge on Thursday, Feb. 28. This game was a
shootout that had all the action the crowd could hope for. Ridge
opened the scoring early in the first period. Matt Keating knotted
the contest off a feed from Barboza. Thomas Kennedy followed with a
goal on the wrap-around with an assist from Cicurillo. With a
minute left in the first period, Scott Herrigel scored off a
scramble in front, with Jon Kiss and Kennedy getting
assists.

With the score 3-1, Ridge came back in the
second to pull within one. C. Keating's short-handed goal with 30
seconds left in the second period restored the two-goal lead. In
the third period Kennedy scored another short-handed goal,and M.
Keating provided the winner with assists from his line mates, C.
Keating and Barboza.

The story of the third period was Romano,
who withstood the barrage of Ridge shots, ending up with 30 saves
for the night. He made several key stops at the end of the game
with Chatham playing shorthanded. Chatham finished the season with
a record of 12-10-1, with all 10 losses to Top 20 teams.

The Cougars finished first in the Halvorsen
Division and provided Coach Harvey Cohen with his 400th victory in
an exciting last-minute win over Toms River East.

The seniors who provided leadership all
season were Nick Barboza, Josh Cicurillo, Chris Keating, Brad
Groff, David Romano and Gordon Lorenson.

Winterfest
means

medals for
Seals

THE CHATHAMS - The Summit Area YMCA Seals
sent 45 swimmers to the Winterfest Invitational Swim Meet, held
Jan. 5 and 6 at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, and the
contingent returned with medals.

Nearly 1,800 athletes from 38 teams
competed. Many events had more than 100 swimmers.

Twenty-four of the Seal swimmers are from
the Chathams.

Olivia Alva captured a gold medal in the
girls' "10-and-under" 100-yard breaststroke in 1:28.52. She also
won a bronze medal in the 100-yard backstroke, in
1:21.33.

In the girls' 11-12 age group, Charlotte
Dillon swam to fourth place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a
"personal best" time of 1:21.29.

Twelve-year-old Emily Cahn placed fifth in
the girls' senior 200-yard breaststroke in 2:41.85, and seventh in
the senior 100-yard breaststroke in 1:15.38.

Louie Swims To Medals

Chatham's Justin Louie raced to first place
in the 50-yard freestyle for boys ages 11 and 12, clocking 28.58.
Louie took home a bronze medal in the 50-yard backstroke in 33.41,
and placed 10th in the 100-yard freestyle.

In the girls' 13-14 age group, Hilary
Lohamnn placed eighth in the 100-yard backstroke, touching the wall
in 1:07.52. In the boys' 13-14 age group, Matt Bocian placed fifth
in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 26.18.

Ryan Mullane placed fifth in the 200-yard
breaststroke in 2:38.31, and sixth in both the 200-yard butterfly
in 2:34.12, and the 500-yard freestyle in 5:40.50. He also swam to
eighth place in the 400-yard individual medley in
5:02.05.

Justin Zelenka captured a bronze medal in
the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:36.07.

Sixteen-year-old Sandy Zaeh won a silver
medal in the girls' senior 400-individual medley, clocking 4:54.42
and cutting more than 7 seconds off her previous best
time.

In other girls' senior events, 17-year-old
Karen Bocian placed sixth in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:41.98,
and placed seventh in the 200-yard individual medley in
2:22.75.

CHATHAM - Both the Chatham High School boys'
and girls' track teams placed second at the Colonial Hills
Conference (CHC) Championship meet held Thursday, Feb. 21, at
Fairleigh Dickinson University's Rothman Center in
Hackensack.

The Chatham boys did not think they could
have a closer meet than last year's CHC championship, in which they
placed second by just four points to Montclair Kimberley Academy.
This year Chatham, with 69.5 points, was 2.5 points away from the
first-place Wildcats of Whippany Park High School at 72 points, to
place second for the second year in a row.

The Cougars had strong performances in many
events. All-Conference honors were given to Jack Lennox, who placed
first in the high jump and second in the 800-meters; Sam Grammer,
who placed first in the shot-put; Justin Fenlon, who took third
place in the 55-meter high hurdles, and Mike Sechehay, who was
second in the long jump. The four-by-400-meter relay team of Mike
Sechehay, Tim MacLaga, Jack Lennox and Brian Lane placed first in
one of the more exciting races of the night.

Last year, the Lady Cougars were able to
pick up only 5 points at the CHC championship meet. This year the
girls grabbed 55 points, placing second behind a strong Verona
squad. The girls received strong performances from All-Conference
runners Jill Glover, who placed first in the 1,600-meter, setting a
new meet record of 5:45; Kelly Cronin, who placed second in the
3,200-meter; Lauren Anderson, who took second in the long jump; Mia
Arevalo, who was third in the long jump, and the four-by-400 relay
team of Jill Glover, Sarah Melroy, Eileen Gibbon and Julie
Doughtery-Choux, who finished in third place.

Squirts win one,
lose one over weekend

MADISON _ On Saturday and Sunday, March 2
and 3, the Harding-Madison Squirt ice hockey team put its 12-game
winning streak on the line against Randolph Township and
Chatham.

A tough loss against Randolph brought the
winning streak to an end, but the Squirts bounced back on Sunday,
edging Chatham, 3-2.

In the Saturday contest, Randolph came out
flying and took a 3-goal lead into the second period.
Harding-Madison did not get on the board until three minutes into
the second period, when Christian Clark pushed across his first
goal in an unassisted breakaway. The momentum definitely shifted
after Clark's goal, but a controversial penalty call against
Lady-Bing candidate Georgia Cook put Randolph back on the
offensive. Cook, penalized for the first time this season, could
only watch from the penalty box as Randolph scored on the power
play.

Harding-Madison entered the third period in
the uncustomary position of playing from behind. Between-period
adjustments by the coaches paid off as Harding-Madison scored two
minutes into the third period. Gary Galant took a nice feed from
line mate Brett Perry to make the score 5-2. Three minutes later,
on a power play, Clark notched his second of the game with an
assist from Michael Benvenuti.

Randolph clinched it with another goal late
in the third period, however, and Harding-Madison's club record of
12 wins in a row came to an end with a 6-3 loss.

The Squirts bounced back on Sunday with a
3-2 win over Chatham. This time it was goaltending that kept
Harding-Madison in the game. James Coleman was between the pipes
for Harding-Madison and kept the Chatham offense in check. During
one of his save sequences, Coleman moved from one side of the goal
to the other and, without regard for his safety, flung himself
across the crease to make an incredible glove save. Late in the
first period, Jack Beatie finally got one past Coleman to put
Chatham on the board first, 1-0.

With bench coach Chris Conte barking out the
line changes, a Sean McCormick goal at the beginning of the second
period evened the score at 1-1. McCormick's goal was set up by a
pass from Benvenuti and the aggressive play of Stephen McGrath.
Later in the second period, Christian Clark took Zach Singer's pass
at his own blue line and scored his first goal of the game to give
Harding-Madison the lead.

A costly penalty put Chatham on the power
play midway through the third period, but Clark, with an assist
from Ryan Zimmerman and Greg Maxwell, scored on a breakaway,
short-handed goal to give Harding-Madison the lead at 3-1. Stephen
Valari scored Chatham's second goal with less than a minute to
go.

Young Pacer
hoopsters put together 8-0 season

FLORHAM PARK _ Florham Park's recreation
basketball team for second and third grade boys finished its season
undefeated.

The Florham Park Pacers, who played in the
"Hoop Heaven" league, defeated the Hoop Heaven Wizards in the
championship game on Saturday, Feb. 23, by a score of 31-11 to cap
off an 8-0 season.

Head Coach Mark Mitola's strategy of motion
offense and man-to-man defense proved to be one key to the winning
season. Assistant Coach Nick Tassielli added, "The hard work at
practice and the focusing on fundamentals really paid
off."

Throughout the season, the point guard play
of Alex Mitola and shooting guard Andrew Mitola got the offense
going. Forwards Frankie Tassielli and John Burbella were strong
both on offense and defense. Centers Luke Chiarolanzio and Kevin
Seery were a potent defensive force on the court. Forward Brian
Bartner contributed fine all-around play. Guards Ryan Martin and
Mike Lambusta played aggressively, driving to the hoop every
game.

"It was a pleasure seeing the kids come
together as a solid team, and they all demonstrated first-rate
sportsmanship," observed Assistant Coach John Burbella.

Steele helps pace
Stags

to swim
championships

CHATHAM - Kelly A.
Steele of Chatham, daughter of Kathy and David Steele of Gates
Avenue, is a freshman and a major contributor on the Fairfield
(Conn.) University Stags women's swimming team, which placed fourth
in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) championships at
Loyola College in Baltimore, Md.

Steele placed in the top
five of all six of her events, including a fourth-place finish in
the 200-yard freestyle in a school record time of
1:59.53.

Individually, she also
placed fifth in the 50-yard freestyle in 25.45, and fifth in the
100-yard freestyle in 55.03, as well as anchoring relay teams that
set new school records in taking two third places and one fourth
place.

Steele and nine of her
teammates have qualified to compete in the Eastern College Athletic
Conference (ECAC) championships at the University of Pittsburgh,
Pa.

Municipal Alliance eyes trip to see Devils
play

THE CHATHAMS - The
Municipal Alliance Committee of the Chathams will sponsor its
annual ice hockey game trip to the Continental Airline Arena in the
Meadowlands at 7:05 p.m. Monday, March 25, to see the New Jersey
Devils play the Florida Panthers.

The outing will mark the
eighth year for this event.

The cost is $35 per
person. To join the trip, call Raymond Finley at (973) 635-5356, or
mail a check to him, made out to "MACC," at 35 Woodland Road,
Chatham, N.J. 07928. Include a phone number to be notified when
tickets arrive. Transportation to the arena will not be
provided.

The Municipal Alliance
sponsors community programs to combat drug and alcohol
abuse.

A limited number of
permits are available, and will be sold on a first-come basis. No
permits will be sold prior to March 16.

Purchasers must reside
in Chatham Borough.

Full-member permits are
$160, and limited-member permits are $80. Millburn has requested
all the sales to be made by personal check with the member's name,
address and driver's license number. Cash will not be accepted for
the permit.

The limited permits may
be used only Tuesdays through Fridays, between 10 a.m. and 2
p.m.

Residents must be age 21
or older to purchase a permit. An addition $5 in exact cash will be
charged separately for the mandatory photo identification card.
Purchasers must attend in person for their permit and
photo.

Greens fees and guest
fees are $5 weekdays and $7.50 on weekends and holidays. Guests are
limited to one per round. For information call (973)
635-7066.

Revenge downs 7Nets
girls

MADISON - On Tuesday,
Feb. 26, playing without their point guard, the Madison 7Nets
seventh grade girls' traveling basketball team struggled through a
37-20 loss to Tri-County White Division opponent Berkeley
Heights.

The Berkeley Heights
girls were seeking revenge, since the 7Nets had knocked them out of
first place with a victory in their previous
encounter.

On Feb. 26, Berkeley
Heights had grown a 10-point lead in the third quarter. but in the
course of two minutes Christina Doherty converted two steals into
fast-break layups and hit a jumper to bring Madison back to within
4 points.

Berkeley Heights'
full-court press proved too much for Madison to handle, however.
Doherty led all scorers with 10 points while Rayna Caruso's 5
points, Sarah Yardley's 3 points and Margo Oldendorp's bucket
rounded out the scoring for Madison. Andrea Barton and Samantha
Mann each had 8 points for Berkeley Heights.

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In recent weeks, Long Hill Township and Watchung Borough passed ordinances allowing their police departments to be able to apply for surplus equipment from the Department of Defense. Long Hill recently procured a Humvee to use in times of flooding, which Watchung states as the reason they are getting into the program. However, in cities around the country, police forces have used the program to obtain military gear, such as weapons and armor.
For more background, go to the link below
http://www.newjerseyhills.com/echoes-sentinel/news/watchung-police-department-hopes-to-receive-equipment-from-department-of/article_12ad002a-92b3-5449-a2cc-4b2cf0ce4339.html